02:45Mexico: Pope visits prison inmates on last day of tour
Pope Francis left Mexico City for a visit to Cereso jail in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, Wednesday, on the last day of his five-day visit to the country.
The Pope first greeted crowds in Mexico City, shaking hands with a mariachi band, and talking to groups of disabled people before his departure to Ciudad Juarez.
Ciudad Juarez was once one of the most violent cities in Mexico, with a string of unsolved murders - mainly of women - and rampant drug violence in recent decades. The prison is a mixed jail which houses about 700 inmates. Just last week 49 prisoners died during a fight between rival gang members.
Pope Francis has spent much of his time in Mexico emphasising the dignity of the marginalised, including the indigenous community, the poor, those tempted by the country's lucrative drug trade, and immigrants who have crossed into the neighbouring US over the years in search of a better life.
Also on Wednesday the Pope held a huge mass by the Rio Grande River that separates the Mexican state of Chihuahua from Texas, in the US. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend.
02:45Pope Francis left Mexico City for a visit to Cereso jail in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, Wednesday, on the last day of his five-day visit to the country.
The Pope first greeted crowds in Mexico City, shaking hands with a mariachi band, and talking to groups of disabled people before his departure to Ciudad Juarez.
Ciudad Juarez was once one of the most violent cities in Mexico, with a string of unsolved murders - mainly of women - and rampant drug violence in recent decades. The prison is a mixed jail which houses about 700 inmates. Just last week 49 prisoners died during a fight between rival gang members.
Pope Francis has spent much of his time in Mexico emphasising the dignity of the marginalised, including the indigenous community, the poor, those tempted by the country's lucrative drug trade, and immigrants who have crossed into the neighbouring US over the years in search of a better life.
Also on Wednesday the Pope held a huge mass by the Rio Grande River that separates the Mexican state of Chihuahua from Texas, in the US. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend.